By Kareem Johnson
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN – A new federal proposal will expand the area covered by the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.
The $2.7 billion fund, originally created for first responders and volunteers who were sickened at Ground Zero on September 11, was limited to those who were at the World Trade Center site or just outside.
But the new regulations include residents who lived in the area south of Reade Street and the approach to the Brooklyn Bridge, the Daily News said.
Special Master Sheila Birnbaum released the proposal 34 days after her appointment.
The new regulations "propose a process by which claimants from the first VCF [Victims Compensation Fund] can amend their claims to reflect new injuries, and also provide for the VCF to cover additional diseases as scientific knowledge evolves."
Community Board 1 Chairwoman Julie Menin lauded the move as did local pols.
"It is only fair, it is only right that the Lower Manhattan workers and residents exposed to smoke and other particulates from the collapse of the towers on September 11, 2001 and in the aftermath be included in the coverage," Menin said.
However, the community board, and the FealGood Foundation, which advocates for sickened 9/11 responders, were disappointed that the fund's coverage was not extended to cancer.
"We firmly believe that the medical evidence will soon establish what we, the First Responder community, already know, that various forms of cancer have been caused by our exposure to the toxins at Ground Zero," said the FealGood Foundation in a statement.
The proposed regulations will be open for public comment for 45 days.
"It is important that the Special Master hear from the people who have become ill since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, to hear their stories and struggles so that they may be taken into account in the final draft of these rules," the FealGood Foundation said.
